REVIEW - Yeo Valley Banana and Custard Yogurt

Being the banana fan that I am, I couldn't pass up on the opportunity to try Yeo Valley's Limited Edition 'Banana & Custard Yogurt' when I saw it on the shelves. Yeo Valley are one of my favourite yogurt brands (their products are so thick and creamy and they have such a good range of flavours) and I always stock up my fridge when they're on a 2 for £2 offer.

The fact that I'm from the West Country myself may also have a bit of an influence...

REVIEW - Starbucks Banana Caramel S'mores Frappuccino

There are lots of things that indicate that summer is coming. The birds are awake at 4am, everyone's having a barbecue, and your skin turns a brilliant shade of pink because you neglected the suncream. That, and everyone's wandering around clutching Starbucks frappuccinos - thanks to Happy Hour.

Happy Hour (or 'Frappy Hour') is that one glorious week in May when, between 3pm and 5pm, all Starbucks frappuccinos are half-price. Great! You can get a nice cool drink to freshen you up! The only problem is that everyone else has the same idea.
If you've not experienced the joy of a university-campus Starbucks during Happy Hour, just picture: a queue snaking out the door, a scrum of people building up at the end of the counter, stressed and hot staff, constant confusion regarding which drink belongs to who, an ever-depleting supply of straws, and more frappuccinos than you care to count. If you're in a rush to be somewhere - forget it. You'll be in there for a good 20 minutes.

It's the staff I feel bad for; I've worked my fair share of retail jobs (and still do) so know full too well how awful busy periods can be - not to mention how dull it must be, having to make the same drink straight for 2 hours. I wouldn't have actually ventured into Starbucks, had I not really, really wanted to try the new 'Banana Caramel S'mores Frappuccino'. I LOVE banana, and coffee, and caramel - so I had to face Happy Hour.

REVIEW - Tesco Banana Bliss/Berry Blast Fruit Bars

Still on my hunt for a decent cereal/snack bar, I picked up these (fairly) new bars in Tesco the other day - Banana Bliss and Berry Blast fruit bars. I'd heard tales that they were Tesco's answer to Nakd bars and, with individual Nakd bars costing up to 75p, two of these Tesco boxes (each with 4 bars) for £2 seemed fairly reasonable to me!

Being incredibly fond of Nakd bars, I was interested to see how these offerings would shape up as a humble snacktime product.

Ingredients-wise, they are quite similar to Nakd bars - the Banana Bliss bar is made of dates (49%), soya protein crispies (18%), raisins (15%), cashew nuts (10%), dried banana (4%), as well as other ingredients like grape juice and rice starch.

Nakd bars are generally either 30g or 35g, but these Tesco bars are slightly lighter at 26-28g. In my opinion you could definitely feel the difference when holding the bar in your hand - however at the cheaper price it's difficult to get too miffed about the slightly smaller size.

REVIEW - Tesco Goodness Cereal Bars

I have an on-off relationship with cereal bars - I really want to like them (they're convenient and good snacks to keep hunger pangs at bay) but I'm always left feeling slightly underwhelmed by them. They're always too crumbly, too crunchy, too sweet or simply just a bit bland. I haven't yet found a brand that I can be consistently loyal to and for that reason I'm always on the lookout for new and different bars.

I noticed a while ago that Tesco had brought out their own range of cereal bars, many of which are uncannily similar to some of the big brand leaders (the 'oaty granola' bars and 'fruity bakes' specifically spring to mind!) and seem to be on a permanent 2 for £2 offer. Also included in the range are their 'Goodness Cereal Bars' which are supposedly aimed at children; but, being drawn to all things banana-flavoured, I still ended up picking up a pack to try out. I mixed up my selection and also got the strawberry flavoured ones to try. There are 6 bars in a packet and they've been described as "oat cereal bars with banana/strawberry flavoured pieces".